November 1, 2005


Board of Directors
Knight Ridder, Inc.
50 W. San Fernando Street
Suite 1500
San Jose, CA  95113


Dear Board Members:

I am writing on behalf of Private Capital Management, L.P.
("PCM"), Knight Ridder's largest shareholder.  On behalf
of its clients, PCM has been an investor in Knight Ridder since
April 2000 and its clients currently hold approximately 19%
of the Company's outstanding shares.

On July 19, 2005, at the invitation of Knight Ridder's Chairman
and CEO, Tony Ridder, I addressed the Company's Board
on behalf of PCM regarding our concerns with the performance
of the Company's stock.  As I stated to the Board at
that meeting, PCM has long respected Knight Ridder for
its distinguished history of serving the public and for the
collection of high quality local market newspaper assets
that the Company has assembled.  However, in light of limited
revenue growth across the newspaper industry and the difficulties
the Company has faced in realizing the fair value of the Company
for its shareholders, we believe the Board should now
aggressively pursue the competitive sale of the Company.

PCM remains supportive of actions undertaken by the Company
following the July 19 Board meeting, so far as they went,
to create shareholder value.  Nevertheless, as was the case
in July and is increasingly the case since, a significant
and persistent disparity exists between the fair value
of the Company's assets and the trading range of its shares.
Since the July 19 Board meeting the Company has raised
its dividend; authorized the repurchase of 10,000,000 shares;
completed the repurchase of more than 5,000,000 shares;
acquired and disposed of a number of newspaper assets;
and announced staffing reductions.  During that same period
the Company's share price has declined by over 14% from
$62.23 to $53.38.

In our view, the actions taken to date have not adequately
addressed a number of significant issues facing the Company,
including (i) continuing consolidation among traditional
sources of print advertising revenue; (ii) the redirection of
advertising dollars to other media; (iii) the Company's
unexceptional operating margins; and (iv) the Company's lack
of a nationally read paper capable of being leveraged in the
online market.  In light of these and other factors, we view
the best interests of the shareholders as being served by the
Board soliciting competitive bids for the Company, either from
financial buyers willing to pay fair value or industry participants
that would realize synergies and increased market presence
through the acquisition of Knight Ridder's highly desirable
local newspaper and online advertising assets.

We understand through publicly available material that
Company management has, on several occasions, determined
the Company's break up value to be substantially in excess
of the current share price.  While we are not putting a specific
break up or fair market value on the Company's assets at this
time, based on what we observed of other shareholders invited to
address the Board at its July meeting, we think that we are not
alone in believing that the Company's fair value significantly
exceeds its current share price.  In the present environment,
even considering management's incremental efforts and the
Company's top tier assets, the market has persistently failed
to recognize the fair value of the Company as it is currently
configured and managed.

Accordingly, we are calling on the Board to initiate a process
to seek competitive offers for the Company and to allow the
Company's shareholders to determine whether resulting bids
adequately reflect the fair value of the Company's assets.
We anticipate that other shareholders would strongly support
the Board's efforts to auction the Company at this time.  In
the absence of such action by the Board, PCM would strongly
consider supporting more aggressive efforts that might be
initiated by other parties seeking to change the composition
of the Board, install new management, acquire a majority
of the Company's voting shares, or take other action to maximize
shareholder value.

As long term supporters of the Company, we thank you for
your prompt and thoughtful consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

/s/ Bruce S. Sherman
Bruce S. Sherman
Chief Executive Officer



cc:  Mr. Tony Ridder